Mastitis is a serious inflammatory disease of the mammary gland affecting dairy cattle worldwide. It is caused by a variety of microorganisms, mainly bacteria that infect the udder tissue. Mastitis leads to economic losses for dairy farmers due to reduced milk production, discarded milk during treatment, costs of treatment and preventive measures, and increased culling rates.
Causes of Mastitis
Bovine Mastitis can be caused by both contagious and environmental pathogens. Contagious pathogens that are spread from cow to cow during milking include Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus agalactiae. Environmental pathogens prevalent in bedding materials and contaminated surfaces in the cow housing include environmental streptococci, coliforms like Escherichia coli, and Klebsiella spp. Other less frequent causes include mycoplasma, nocardia, and yeasts. The bacteria can enter the udder through the teat canal during milking due to short/inverted teats or teat injuries. Unhygienic milking practices and overcrowded, dirty housing conditions also predispose the infection.
Economic Impact of the Disease
Mastitis has been estimated to cost the U.S. dairy industry nearly $2 billion annually. The economic losses arise due to several factors:
- Reduced milk production: Infected cows produce lesser milk than normal. On average, clinical mastitis reduces milk yield by 5-7% and subclinical mastitis by 2-3%.
- Premature culling: Cows with chronic or recurrent mastitis are culled earlier than their normal productive lifespan to avoid further economic losses.
- Milk discarded during treatment: Milk from cows under treatment for clinical mastitis has antibiotics and cannot be sold for human consumption. It is discarded.
- Extra labor and treatment costs: Farmers incur expenses on extra labor for treatment, medicines, veterinary charges, milk culture costs for antibiotic residues testing in discarded milk, etc.
- Milk quality issues: Mastitis milk may contain blood, clots and contain high somatic cell counts affecting milk quality and shelf-life of products like cheese and yogurt. This degrades milk price for farmers.
Impact on Milk Quality
Mastitis impacts milk quality in several ways:
- Increased somatic cell counts (SCC): Mastitis causes the number of leukocytes or somatic cells in milk to rise above the normal health standard of <200,000 cells/ml. High SCC (>500,000 cells/ml) milk is discarded or downgraded affecting price.
- Changes in chemical composition: There is an increase in sodium, chloride, and lactose concentration along with decreased casein content. This influences curd yield and cheese-making.
- Off-flavors in milk and products: Mastitic milk develops bitter, salty, rancid, or other off-flavors impairing sensory quality of milk, butter, and fermented dairy foods like cheese and yogurt. They also reduce shelf life.
Prevention and Control Measures
To reduce economic losses to mastitis, dairy farms must adopt proper preventive and therapeutic measures:
- Milking Hygiene: Udder and teat disinfection, use of teat dips, fore and stripping, drying teats properly, and personnel hygiene during milking lower pathogen transmission risks.
- Housing and Environment: Well-ventilated housing with soft, dry bedding prevents environmental pathogens. Manure pack management in freestalls also lowers mastitis risk.
- Herd Health: Regular pre and post-milking udder preparation, rapid treatment of clinical cases, culling of chronically infected cows, and screening/treatment of subclinical infections controls Mastitis.
- Vaccination: Vaccines against mastitis-causing organisms like Strep. agalactiae are available and aid disease control. However, adoption depends on cost-benefit analysis for each farm.
- Post-milking Teat Disinfection: Application of teat dips/sprays containing disinfectants like iodine or chlorhexidine after milking heals teat skin, prevents new intramammary infections.
Mastitis remains among the most economically devastating diseases for dairy farmers worldwide. By adopting proper preventive measures and following good management practices, its impact can be controlled. Continued research on new vaccines and mastitis diagnostics will further facilitate disease management in the future. Overall, combating mastitis will help ensure profitability and sustainability of the global dairy sector.
For more details on the report, Read- https://www.trendingwebwire.com/bovine-mastitis-growth-market-size-share-analysis/
